A/N:

Welcome, dear reader, to the final chapter! This has been quite a journey, so thank you for making it this far. I hope you enjoy the final Double-Feature Wednesday. There's not much to say before the start of the chapter, so I'll let us get to it!

Chapter Summary:

Danny and Valerie meet up the next morning to answer questions and get on the same page. Danny makes an important decision.

Chapter Specific Warnings:

None

Chapter Title:

Dénouement: (authorship, often figuratively) The conclusion or resolution of a plot; unravelling.

Nascence: (rare) Birth ... Coming into being; inception, beginning.

9:25am; December 11th, 2005; Amity Park

She landed a few feet from the bushes, not wanting to get twigs and leaves caught in the newly rebuilt engines of her hoverboard. She still missed her wings, flying was much more convenient and exciting with them, but after the curse left, so too did the ability to transform. She discovered her ability to interface and control with other technology diminished as well. It had been nice to control the systems inside Plasmius' house, but she could at least enjoy the knowledge she'd crippled its defenses. She also missed the ability to create new weapons with a thought.

Still, having her mind be curse free and no longer subject to the whims of homicidal ghost hunting sprees definitely made up for it. She slid the armor back into place, the suit quieting to a hum in the back of her mind. Another change involved the suit being more silent. They could still communicate, she just seemed less opinionated. But, if the opinions she had shared were any indication, she tended towards the primal and vulgar anyway. She did not need dietary guidance or suggestions! Squirrels are filled with protein, so are rabbits. They were adorable woodland creatures and she was not a wild animal. They were not going to eat them. The suit didn't seem particularly happy about it, but the grumbles settled out into gentle hisses. She didn't try to take control anymore either, just gave suggestions about her diet and butted in about her social life. It was still weird, all things considered, to share her mind with a piece of tech, but what could she do?

She walked into the park a few minutes early, preparing to settle in for the long haul. For all of his many virtues, Danny had never met a deadline he couldn't dodge…except today, apparently. She walked into the park, ready to find a bench to relax on for the next fifteen to twenty, only to find him already inside and standing around looking for her. Ok, that's a new one, Fenton. Agreeing to talk about his feelings and showing up on time, all without being reminded? He'd just opened a new chapter, or maybe just flipped to a new page. When she walked closer, she could see him shove a breakfast pastry in his mouth with one hand and check his phone with the other. On the bench near him sat a water bottle. He picked it up and started chugging the liquid inside. He'd definitely rushed here. "Hey Danny." He started choking, and she rolled her eyes. "It's not like I crept over here."

"I'm used to sensing... Uh, hi Val." He set the bottle down and waved. "You're still feeling better, right?" He walked over to her, hands in his pockets, typical bright smile on his face. Like she hadn't almost died yesterday, like he wasn't always half-dead himself.

"I'm mostly back to normal." When his eyes lost a little of their sparkle, she rushed to explain, "Nothing's hurting or damaged, you did great patching me up. The curse is definitely gone, but the suit is still…talkative."

"What did it say?"

"That we need more protein to replenish our muscles, so I should eat squirrel." He blinked a few times, eyebrows drawing closer together in confusion. "It suggested rabbits too."

"It wants you to hunt meat?"

"Just the fluffy animal kind. Its first suggestion was Bambi." She pushed back against the excited trill the suit sent at the thought of deer. She was not going to kill them, either. "I think it just wants more meat and doesn't care if it comes from wild animals."

"Just earth animals though, right, no blob ghosts or...eels?"

"I'm not gonna eat your eel friend." She smiled, with a little too much teeth, but it didn't seem to throw him off. "It tells me to eat more fiber and says we're not getting enough trace minerals too. I don't think it's got some strong urge to kill, I just told it meat is expensive."

"So, it started suggesting free options." He leaned closer, the smile slowly returning to his face. "I get the logic."

"I do too, but that doesn't mean I'm eating squirrel."

"Lots of people eat squirrel."

" Hillbillies eat squirrel. I don't even know how to cook—" The suit sent images of skinning and cooking squirrel from Utube. "Ugh, that doesn't mean I'm gonna go catch them now that I know how to dress them, Essence."

"Uh…"

"It sent some video of skinning something fluffy from the internet."

"You named… I don't think that's a good idea."

"I didn't pick the name, it did." His face performed an admirable series of quick expressions before settling on a strained looking smile. "It is pretty self-aware, so the name thing doesn't surprise me."

"That makes one of us." He leaned over to whisper as another pair walked past them, holding hands. "Can it hear me?"

"It hears everything I do, and has more than my five senses, so yeah."

"We're cool right? Like, you're not gonna try to puppet Val around in her sleep to come gank me?"

"Essence says it's grateful you purged the curse and healed me up, but that it doesn't trust ghosts, even half ones."

"Come on, I'm Amity's friendly Casper. I'm totally trustworthy."

"You did lie to us a lot, even if you had good reasons."

"Great reasons, the best ones even. Can't we just wipe the slate clean and try again?" She leaned closer when a gust of wind shot up her coat. He might be immune to the cold, with his stupid ghost powers, but she wasn't. Essence turned up their body temperature. It helped.

"It says this is your only do-over." She laughed when he fist-pumped and did a little dance. "I can't believe you don't think this is weird."

"This is less weird than most things in my life. You just have a supercomputer in your head you can talk to. As long as it doesn't try to convince you to take over the world, or try to eradicate all of ghost-kind, me and the suit are friends." A few seconds passed, the two of them enjoying the quiet of the empty Saturday morning and staring into each other's eyes, before she looked away.

"Speaking of ghost-kind, you going to explain all that? You said 'since before Freshman year.' How long is 'before'?" She started walking towards the bench. If they were going to hang for a while, she wanted to rest her feet. Everything had healed, but almost everything was still sore. It felt like a low level ache from good exercise, but that didn't mean she wanted to put up with it. The bench's wood felt chilly, its cold sinking into her legs.

"You remember my parents' portal?" He'd walked over to join her, and was sitting down, crowding close. He helped with generating body heat, but not as much as she'd like.

"Kinda hard to forget the doorway to another dimension that's active in your basement, Danny."

"It didn't turn on at first. They'd worked so hard on it, brought me and Jazz down to see them plug it in, but it didn't work." He closed his eyes, tipping his head to rest it on the back of the bench. "They left the lab, and I decided to poke around inside. It turned on with me in it." His face looked blank, but his hands were gripping his knees with such force his knuckles turned paper white. Not selling the 'normal human' thing so well with no scarf or gloves in 10 degree weather, Fenton. How had she not noticed that last winter? "After the flash of it activating faded, I had powers." He was leaving details out, she was sure of it.

"Your parents left you down in the basement alone?"

"Sam and Tucker were there." And now their animosity towards her made sense. She'd be pretty pissed too if someone spent their free time firing lasers at her friend. "Jazz knows too. She found out after a couple of weeks. I'm not that good at secrets."

"You managed to keep this from me for over a year. I mean, you did jump off of a board and transform in front of me, but before that, 100% success rate." He chuckled and pressed closer when she shivered. She wished he'd wrap an arm around her. He didn't give off enough heat otherwise. "When did this happen, exactly?"

"Month before Freshman year, I had the worst time right after my powers showed up. They were uncontrollable."

"That's why you got banned from holding beakers… Is that also why your pants wouldn't stay up?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. That school has seen my boxers way too many times." She leaned her head back against the bench as well, trying to absorb the new information.

"You wouldn't happen to know how Vlad became a halfa?"

"Lab accident."

"Damn, ectology labs are more dangerous than I thought."

"Nah, just the ones with my parents in them." They fell into a companionable silence, and she listened to the way the wind whistled through the tree branches. He turned to block its path, probably unconsciously. "That answer your questions?"

"Hardly. I don't know anywhere near enough about all of your powers, and your relationship to other ghosts. Have you been to the Zone? I have maps, and I wanted to explore it more, but it'd be much easier if I went with someone else. Questions about powers first, though," she trailed off, pulling out a notebook from her backpack where she'd written all the topics she wanted information about this morning. "That was only the beginning of the first topic," she tapped the notebook on his forehead, "there's a lot of ground to cover in here."

"I'm an open book." She grinned.

"After all the headaches you've put me through, you better be. Since Cujo's your dog, you still owe me a house, Fenton."

"Right." His jovial mood fell a little, and she felt bad for bringing it up.

"I'm not serious."

"I still feel bad about that."

"I bet you feel bad about everything. No way you don't have a hero complex."

"Ok, kettle, I'm sure you know about those."

"You're the one who describes yourself as a 'superhero' all the time."

"I shoot lasers out of my hands! Those are superpowers."

"Not my point. Having powers doesn't mean you have to describe yourself as a 'superhero'."

"It's, like, the law."

"Where, Danny?"

"In every story I've ever read. Besides, just because you don't call yourself a hero, doesn't mean you aren't one. You're the perfect example of that." He poked her in the arm, and she poked back.

" I'm a hunter."

"You stop ghosts from blowing up our town. You save people's lives. That's a hero. Hell, you have a liminal tech that you control with your mind. That sounds like superpowers. You're our town's version of the Azure Bug."

"No."

"Yes." His smiled grew, and he poked her a few more times for emphasis. "Face it, Red, you're just as much of a hero as I am. That's why you tried to stop Skulker's suit even when you were…" His eyes got far-away for a moment, then he refocused. "Anyway, argument for another time. You wanted your questions answered." She did. So, she pulled out a pen to match her notebook and started down her list.

Power level? Check. Range of abilities? Check again. She asked about how far he'd explored in the Zone and learned a relic that possessed perfect knowledge of every area existed. She also learned he sucked at making maps. He'd been far too impressed by hers before he sheepishly admitted to a deficient sense of direction.

"Everything moves around in the Zone!" He defended.

"Not that much Fenton, there are a number of stable landmarks all over the place. How do you think denizens inside find their way?"

"I don't know. I just figured they had a ghost GPS installed or something." She stopped taking notes for a second to stare. "You know, like how birds have them, only for ghosts."

"That made more sense to you than you sucking at directions?"

"Ghosts have lots of powers. It makes perfect sense." He crossed his arms, pouting at her like he was actually offended. "A lot of them seem to know where a new temporary portal is going to open, or can make their own. How is having an innate sense of the Zone that outlandish?" She could see his point, and maybe he knew more about ghosts than her in general, but…

"Why would you be the only ghost without the natural compass if you got the whole suite of powers?"

"I… Well, I thought I did? I can't navigate at all on Earth, but it's better in the Zone."

"Wait, did you think you had, like, a directional disability."

"Don't laugh."

"I'm not. I'm being serious." Her smile was very serious. "Danny, everything about you is amazing. Why would you have a broken ghost sense?"

"Direction sense, my ghost one works just fine thank you." His ears turned red, face slowly heating up as her compliment registered. She'd been dancing around that topic during the last couple of minutes, but she couldn't wait any longer.

"I guess you could have that doctor check. You could text her right now. I'd text her myself, if you're too embarrassed to ask, but..."

"Dr. Airmid, right. I promised you her number."

"You did." She pulled out her phone, opening the contacts section to add the new apparition addition. He pulled out a shiny red Razor, and flipped it open. "Early Christmas gift?"

"From Vlad." He frowned, and started tapping into the phone.

"Don't you hate that guy?"

"Unfortunately, my dad loves him." He made a face, and then started tapping again. "Like a friend."

"Uh, ok?"

"I just realized that sounded weird."

"Sure. So, he's your dad's friend, and you can't avoid him."

"My dad insists he's his best friend, and he's making him a Packers Christmas sweater. You ready for her number?" He sounded keen on changing the subject, so she let him.

"I text her, introduce myself as your friend, and she'll answer my questions?" She saved the number, and put the phone into the spot in her backpack where it lived.

"She'd probably answer your questions without even knowing who you are. She likes to lecture. Last we talked, she explained she was a scholar and a servant of knowledge."

"Learning obsession?"

"Maybe, but the important part is she's nice and knows a lot about curses, ghost medicine, and everything in between. Everything I know about that stuff I got from her." He put his phone into his jacket's front pocket and placed his arm across the back of the bench. His face looked too thoughtful, too distant, for him to have done it to flirt. "This one was like the flu, it has a bunch of animal reservoirs or something. Technus got it from an ecto-bob cat he tried to wrangle."

"Should I be worried about your eel friend?"

"Ohm is fine. He'd be acting way weirder if he'd been infected."

"I meant in the future. I don't want Amity to catch eel flu next year."

"Curses don't work like that...probably? It's not like an annual thing. It just happened to be going around this fall, but Dr. A said it's been twenty years since the last outbreak. We shouldn't have to worry about Whispering Panic for a while."

"Right." She swallowed, glanced over at him, and leaned her head onto his arm. His distracted face suddenly contained a lot more blood. "Speaking of the Whispering Panic, you were going to explain that cure."

"I gave you Dr. A's number."

"Danny—"

"Can't blame me for trying…" He scrubbed a hand through his hair, pulling it back into place after the wind mussed it, and continued, "I'll explain everything I know."

"I'm not really interested in the technical stuff yet. I can ask your ghost doctor about it. I do want to know if… Were you in my head?" The silence stretched so long she wanted to repeat herself, but she refrained. He'd heard her.

"Yeah, I was. I couldn't see everything. It was like, surface thoughts and feelings."

"I don't like that." Something in her whispered 'liar', and she tried to ignore it.

"Not my first choice either, but extraordinary circumstances and all that. It's an exchange, so it's a two-way street." Right, he'd said that yesterday. She'd thought he'd just meant energy, but if that meant thoughts and feelings too…

The thrill of intertwining fingers. The smell of jasmine and sandalwood. The taste of her favorite chapstick.

She had to ask. "I was joking yesterday, but you do like me. Don't you?"

He'd been dreading the question the whole morning. After he'd gotten home yesterday, he'd crawled into bed and spent the afternoon texting his friends. He made sure to emphasize that the curse was gone, and they didn't have to worry about a glitchy suit going rogue and blowing things up in Amity. Well, Valerie's suit anyway. They'd been happy, but started asking questions about how curing her worked without their gun. Sam, especially, wanted to know how it'd worked. He'd dodged all afternoon, only to realize he'd promised Valerie an explanation. He owed her one though, and since he had a choice, she was the only one he'd be explaining it to. The fewer times he had to go through the process, the better. I should answer her question.

"I do. I have for a while. I guess, I never stopped even after we broke up."

"Was that all that..." She waved her notebook around again, nose scrunching up the way it did when she tried to make sense of something. The same cute, fierce, look she got when she solved math or science problems in their classes last year. "I saw, felt, things. Images, smells, flavors. It's hard to put it into words. They didn't feel like my memories…or my feelings. Essence swore it wasn't her, so that didn't leave many other options."

"It's supposed to be surface level, but I'm not sure that I get what Dr. A considers 'surface'. It felt like you…" She leaned her head onto his shoulder, and he lost his train of thought. He could smell her new perfume. "I think it sent memories and not just what we'd immediately been thinking?"

"I think it sent over an impression of what we generally think of each other. At least after I got out of wherever the suit had trapped me."

"I think it thought it was protecting you. You did have a ghost suddenly end up inside your head."

"It didn't feel like protection." She remembered the feeling of safety, and amended her comment. "Well, it was like being in a perfectly safe box under a frozen lake. I was safe, and completely alone." She closed her eyes, and pressed against his entire side. He stopped breathing. "Then the water drained away, and on the surface, on the other side, was you. You and a whole bunch of weird feelings. You like 7/15 hot dogs too much."

"Uh—"

"Don't deny it! I could taste them and tell how much you love them. I got sent a bunch of, I think it was happy thoughts and memories. And they were right there beside the first time you caught a fish with your dad, and the moonlight, and flying . Hot dogs are not as good as flying, Danny!"

"You don't understand." She peeked open an eye, smirk inching its way onto her lips. "They're the best ones I've ever tasted."

"You sent over your favorite flavor combination too. Your tastes are weird, but they're also contagious. I made one of those things yesterday evening because the thought wouldn't leave my head."

"Did you like it?"

"Fuck no, Fenton! It was disgusting. Who puts peanut butter and pickle relish on a hot dog? It tasted so good in your memories. It felt like I'd been tricked." She shuddered and poked him in the ribs. "There's something seriously wrong with your taste buds."

"You just went to a bad one."

"Oh my God—"

"Everyone knows the ones in Elmerton suck."

"Danny," she started giggling, "the specific 7/15 is not the issue. The onions and peanut butter are."

"The one near my house makes it perfect. We're going right after this. I'm telling you, they do something special to the dogs there." She started really laughing then, cheeks turning red in the cold and from her amusement. God, he loved her laugh. "Is my taste in hot dogs all you got out of it?"

"Not just that." She admitted, taking a few breaths to fight down the giggles. "Other than the rush of questionable food tastes, and the sensation of flying, there was… It was like seeing myself from the outside. That was weird, by the way. It was weird feeling what grabbing your own hand felt like or the desire to run your hands through my hair."

He did want that. He wanted it pretty badly too, because she was so close, and he couldn't stop thinking about it. "My bad. It was already a weird enough time without seeing yourself from the third person."

"The view was nice though." Her smirk was back, and he fought down the urge to kiss her. It felt familiar, like a comforting blanket wrapped around the inside of his brain. Like it had always been there. That's annoying. It's a lot harder to ignore now. He'd noticed that on the flight back yesterday. Everything felt more intense and present, like it took up all the space in the front of his brain now, instead of just buzzing in the background. They were sitting too close, and he wasn't going to move.

"I... I should ask."

"Hm." She cuddled closer when another gust of wind blew through, and he realized she was probably freezing sitting out here in the open. He thought about the last few minutes again with that in mind, and decided to take the plunge.

"You used to like me back." That wasn't a question. "Do you…" Come on, stop being such a baby! "Do you still do that?" Super smooth! Just like a perfectly polished mirror, or Ohm's brain. It couldn't get worse. He locked eyes with her for a second, and then decided the sky had better views. His hands started sweating.

"Hard to say. I like Danny Fenton just fine, a little more than fine." The wind died down, and she started scooting away. He felt his heart rate pick up. "It's just, I've been trying to nail Phantom to the wall for almost a year." That wasn't that big of a deal. He'd decided it wasn't a big deal ages ago. "Learning they're the same person, it's kind of a shock. I just got over the idea that halfas were possible at all. Now, I apparently know three of them."

"There's only three of us, if that helps any."

"Nope. But I appreciate the information regardless." She scrunched up her nose in that deep thinking way again, and adrenaline started singing down his veins. "You'll have to give me a bit, Danny. I need to…process things. I can promise we'll stay friends, much better ones. I don't have to pretend I'm not Huntress, and you don't have to pretend you're not Phantom. I can't promise anything else." She turned his head with her hand, making him look at her. "It's not 'no', but it's not a guarantee. You've got other options, stop waiting for me to get it together." He wasn't. He didn't think he was, anyway. But she had a way of seeing through his self-deception, so maybe he was.

"I'm happy we can be real friends, but uh, no eta on those feelings going away. Hope that doesn't make things awkward?"

"More awkward than your girlfriend shooting at you? You knew I was Huntress the whole time, and you still accepted my invite to go on a date."

"It was in the negative column, but it wasn't the deciding factor." Look, it was fine. He was still joking about things, so it was fine. "You had lots of pluses going for you."

"Come on, Danny, it couldn't have been—"

"You were just in my head, Val, I think you know the positives from my perspective." The dismissive way she'd been approaching this sidebar of the conversation faded in an instant, replaced with understanding and way too soft eyes.

"You knew I'd get a front row seat to your secret crush, and whatever else, and you saved me anyway."

"I spent the first half of Freshman year with my pants around my ankles a solid 40% of the school day. I am immune to embarrassment." She moved farther away, and he tried not to chase her warmth. "I was more worried about how it'd make you feel, afterward, but I wasn't going to let you die to avoid a little humiliation."

"Well, thanks." The conversation drifted off again, and he took a second before broaching the next topic.

"So, if we're friends, is the truce back on?"

"Hmmmm, but who am I going to use for target practice? Everything else is way too easy to hit." She was back to smiling, and the air on the bench got brighter again. He could handle a little rejection.

"You could train with me. That way, you can still use my empty skull for practice, but it won't be in the middle of Amity."

"Too much collateral damage." She agreed, before kicking her legs for a few seconds. "I didn't think I had to say it out loud, but yeah, we have a truce. I don't make a habit of blasting holes in my friends."

"At least, when you know who you're firing at."

"Whose fault is that?"

"Touché." He reached into the front of his jacket when his phone buzzed, reading the text from his sister about lunch plans. Apparently, his parents wanted to celebrate finishing a new big contract, and they were going out for lunch. He still had time to talk to Valerie, but now there was a trip to Rossi's Place to look forward to. "So, questions answered, truce agreed to. Does that cover everything?"

"Uh, we are nowhere near done with the Q&A. I have a lot more questions about the Zone since you know so much about relics there."

"I only know a little! It's Frostbite who has the collection and the knowledge."

"See, you know all the best ghosts to ask. I'm going to be picking your brain all winter break, Fenton. This is just the beginning." She poked him with her notebook, before placing the pen and it away. Ok. That was a contradictory move. "But, I've got enough for the time being. I'd stay, but Daddy wants to eat lunch together. I kind of slept in an abandoned warehouse for two days in a bunch of cardboard. So, he wasn't really excited to let me out of his sight this morning. I promised I'd be home by lunch."

"You told him you were going to meet a friend?"

"I told him I was going to thank Phantom for saving my bacon and make a truce with him. I've done the second part, so…" She slung the backpack back on her shoulder, standing up from the bench with a groan of wood. "Thanks for saving my life, Danny. I'd be pretty upset if a ghost flu was what took me out. I have college to go to first. I can't die from the sniffles." She rearranged the balance of things, pinning her hair away tighter. She'd be flying soon, so it made sense, but he liked it more with it down.

"Letting you die wasn't an option." She shook her head, stepping closer.

"It definitely was, especially since I pointed that gun right at your core. You had every right to bail."

"You want me to repeat myself?"

"Just take the compliment, you hero-complex-having smart-ass." She checked the surrounding area, prompting him to do the same. The park was still deserted. "I'm gonna change behind those bushes over there," she pointed to a group of them a few meters away, "you wanna walk me home?" He did. He couldn't though.

"I've got to head back too. My parents are dragging everyone to Rossi's."

"Lucky you!" She jogged away after another quick glance around. Soon, she returned, covered in the suit. It looked almost exactly like it had before the curse plague started. The only exception was a new bright red symbol over her chest where there had been a cut-out. It looked like a supernova. She noticed him staring. "You made an impression on Essence."

"It's a good superhero emblem."

"Danny, I'm not...oh shut up, Essence. We're not superheroes!"

"Look, you're outvoted. You have to join me on the Amity superhero roster now. No other choice." She hopped up, summoning her board to hover next to him.

"Nuh uh, no. That's not how this works."

"You should put it on merchandise. I bet it would sell well."

"Not listening to this, Danny. We'll talk later. Text me when you get out of Rossi's this afternoon. I still have more questions." She was moving away now, flying in an arc that would point her towards Elmerton. "And you're taking me on a flight through the Zone this weekend. There's a couple places I need to add to my maps."

"Yeah ok. We can go Sunday. My parents will be at a meeting." He waved as she did a circle around the park, waving back, before flying away. She disappeared out of sight far too quickly for his liking. The new board looked slower than the cursed one. He could catch up and still fly her home. He walked towards the edge of the park instead, feet carrying him back to Fentonworks as he let himself get lost in thought.

They had a truce. She knew the truth, and her only response had been to grill him for information about the Zone. The meeting went as well as it could have. He still felt like he'd been punched, though. It was a long shot, who had a crush on the ghost they'd been hunting for a year? But he still… he wanted… He took a deep breath to clear his head. Something about wanting to kiss her had felt familiar, and thinking about it now, he realized what. It wasn't from when they'd briefly dated. It was Sam. Damn, she'd told me to 'stop waiting' and just called my number. How had she figured it out when I hadn't? That wasn't entirely true, he'd felt something about Sam for a while, but he just didn't have time to think about it. There was school, ghost hunting, homework, chores, and everything . He didn't like to think about his feelings too deeply. Usually, if it was important, he'd figure it out.

He had figured it out, and now he was wondering what to do about it. He looked back towards the direction of Elmerton, and pulled out his phone. He had another ten minutes before his parents started bugging him about when he was getting back. Sam's number was in there too. Maybe he'd text her. Things were still quiet with the curse dying down, and the ghosts hadn't returned yet. It might never be this quiet again. It wasn't as if curses blew through every few months. He tossed his phone up and down, looking to the southwest, and thought about her. Maybe he'd ask her to a movie. What was the worst she could say? No?

He shoved the phone and the thoughts away, grateful for the quiet walk home, and stopped to take in the clear, unbroken blue sky above him. Everything felt as endless as the sky, full of countless possibilities… He'd invite her to the movies.

A/N:

For the finale time, welcome to the bottom, dear readers! I hope you had a great time with the story. This is the first entry in a trilogy, so Danny and Valerie will return in the next one! What? You can't expect the main couple to get together in the first story of the slowburn romance trilogy! You gotta be patient!

First, I'd like to thank my beta, KuzAnn, for all of her hard work. She's spent the past ~four months editing, cheerleading, and helping me create this story. It couldn't have been done without her. She just posted a new chapter to her story Paradigm Shift: Mending Fences, and you all should check it out! If you're a fan of Vlad getting himself into trouble, or that Vlad/Jack I teased in this story, that story, and her work in general, should keep you well-fed.

Second, I want to thank emotigonecreative . tumblr . com once again for lending her art to this tale. I don't think chapter twenty-two would be a third as impactful without it, and none of this would exist without that image to inspire me to create this Ecto-Implosion fic.

Third, want more of my work and will miss regular updates? Consider following along to Hybrid Affinity! It updates Wednesdays!

Summary:

A momentary lapse of attention, a weapon's blast grounding him, an agent's boot heading towards his jaw...

Danny has been the 'primary research subject' of the Area 23 facility for the past three weeks. Since he was captured, he's had no contact with the outside world, and no chance of escape. After complaining about a lack of conversational partners, his heated cage finds a second occupant: Vlad Plasmius.

With his last chance at escape captured with him, Danny's hope dwindled until he heard the other halfa promise he had a plan. The only problem: He doesn't trust Vlad.

What about the sequel to this fic? When is the next entry coming out?! Well, it's going to after Invisobang. If you want to know for sure, I'll have announcements about it and updates on my blog. You'll be able to follow the development of this and other stories, along with getting sneak peeks, lore posts, meta posts, and more!

Blog: balshumetsbaragouin . tumblr . com

To all my dual Hyrbid/Passion readers, I'll see you for the next few weeks on Wednesday. To everyone else: thank you for coming with me on this journey! I hope to see you again for the sequel in the future. As always, my lovelies, have a great day!